First Female 4-Star General (0) November 14, 2008 DebThis morning, the Army will be breaking another glass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody will become the first female American 4-star General. It’s not the first first for Dunwoody, whose career has been marked with declarations of “first female…”. Immediately after she gets her fourth star, she’ll be assuming a new command post – Army Materiel ...

If Men Did the Laundry… (0) December 23, 2010 Deb
I’m not looking to start a gender war here — just found myself musing as I researched a short article this morning. If doing the laundry had been men’s work lo those many centuries past, would we have had washing machines before we had a printing press?
Consider this. Before washing machines, doing the laundry was ...

Love Song for My Daughter (0) January 18, 2009 DebWritten last year for my daughter and (sometimes) co-blogger – it just seemed appropriate to share it for MLK Day:
Love Song for My Daughter
When I tell you we have come a long way,
baby,
please remember
I grew up in a world where women had two choices – get married or be pitied;
attended school in a city that ...

The Michelle Obama Dress Obsession and What It Says About Us (and Her) (0) January 19, 2009 DebThis morning on MSNBC, Savannah Guthrie announced the reason that the Obama camp has been so reticent with WWD and other top fashion industry mags about what Michelle is wearing to the Inauguration. Get this:
Michelle Obama has not decided what she’s wearing for the Inauguration yet.
That’s right. The Inauguration is less than 24 hours ...

Suze Orman’s Advice to Sarah Palin (1) January 9, 2009 DebOkay, so Suze Orman didn’t exactly tell Sarah Palin to grow up, but it was close. In a conversation this morning on Morning Jawbreaker, Orman said that Palin should be “mature enough” to ignore media criticism directed at her instead of whining that Katie Couric picked on her and made her look bad. Considering that ...

Winking, waving and blowing kisses… (0) October 4, 2008 DebAn off the cuff note – I just put my finger on what it was about Sarah Palin’s entrance onto the debate stage that really bothered me – she was… blowing kisses??? Dear sweet lord, she strutted out onto the stage, blowing kisses and waving to the audience. How can you blow kisses to the ...

We have our mouthbreathers too… (0) September 17, 2008 DebLately, I’ve found a new addiction – www.mylot.com. I don’t recommend it to anyone for much of anything – it’s the domain of people who think they can get rich clicking on ads on various affiliate ad websites (don’t EVEN get me started on THOSE). This particular one pays people a few fractions of a ...

Women who would make better VP’s than Palin (0) September 5, 2008 caralisarebekahWednesday night, the GOP brought out Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle to drum up support for soon to accept VP candidate Sarah Palin. First of all, she is a terrible speaker and it was a terrible speech. I could feel her fingernails clawing into my skin in desperation for her party. You can get the full ...

I’m afraid… (0) September 4, 2008 Deb…that we’re going to see more comments like this one in response to a post by Matt Springer over at BlogCritics:
My “knee jerk” reaction, from what I’ve learned so far, is that this
woman breaks the mold in almost every conceivable way. I like women the
way they are, and think they should continue to be the ...

Why Bristol’s pregnancy is a positive for the McCain campaign (0) September 4, 2008 DebI’ve found it interesting that so many commentators use Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy as a “McCain should have vetted her better” talking point. As far as I can see, it’s actually a major plus for the campaign in a lot of ways.
They needed someone to counterbalance McCain’s perceived softness on reproductive issues – and Palin ...

And one more thing… (0) September 3, 2008 DebIt’s fun reading the ‘mainstream’ soundbyte political commentary online sometimes. Over on Yahoo! Politico, they’re talking about 6 things the Palin pick says about McCain. In a nutshell, VandeHel and Harris say that McCain’s “unorthodox” choice says that he is:
1. desperate 2. willing to gamble3. worried about his age4. not worried about his age5. holding ...

A Consistent 0 with NARAL (0) July 30, 2008 Deb“I have many, many votes and it’s been consistent. And I’ve got a consistent zero from NARAL throughout all those years. … My record is clear.” He has also bragged to the media that his record has “been pro-life, unchanging and unwavering.”
Who said it?
That would be McCain, who still thinks he can skate into the ...

Cultural Support Needed for Breastfeeding Moms (0) July 27, 2008 DebA post at Our Bodies Our Blog reminded me forcefully of my own experiences as a breastfeeding mom in the early 80s. Christine C. referenced this commentary by Aisha Qaasim at womensEnews. Qaasim talks about breastfeeding her two month old daughter and hearing a nearby woman loudly state “That is the most disgusting thing I ...

Walmart Selling Gender Roles in Ads (0) July 21, 2008 DebTake 1 – the new Wal*Mart back to school ad (girl’s version)
Mom is sitting in the back of a classroom watching as teen boy grabs his laptop and heads for the front of the classroom. In the voice over, she talks about her son starting out in a new school, how she’d love to be ...

Why Did I Have to Go to England to See a Vagina? (0) July 14, 2008 DebSo that means if a person hasn’t seen a range of women’s genitals in real life there’s no way s/he is going to know what real women’s genitals look like. Everyone then starts to think all genitals should look like the airbrushed ones – which are really just frauds, and not half so interesting or ...